Former Sri Lanka cricketer and member of the 1996 World Cup winning side Asanka Gurusinha who was chief guest at the 39th Sunday Observer-Mobitel Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year awards ceremony held at the Galadari Hotel reminded the schoolboys present at the occasion that there was so much opportunities available in this country the sky is the limit for them.
Gurusinha a past winner of the prestigious award in 1985 said that he was happy to be back on stage after 32 years for it brought back great memories of people he had played with at school as well as the national team.
The important advice to all schoolboy cricketers he gave was to work hard with a plan.
“Work hard with a plan not just go there and bat and bowl or field, you need to know when you finish a training session that you have improved from yesterday that is my message to all of you,” said Gurusinha.
Excerpts from Asanka Gurusinha’s speech:
“To see these young schoolboys achieve this great award it takes me back to 32 years ago at the BMICH when I won my award as the schoolboy cricketer of the year. That was the stepping stone in my life which came to my cricket career. Four or five months after winning this prestigious award in 1985 I made my one-day debut and Test debut for Sri Lanka.
“What I would like to inform you all and give you advice later on is that there is a lot of hard work that you will have to put in. As I mentioned a long time ago when I won it I actually got the motivation when my very good friend Roshan Mahanama won it for two consecutive years in 1982 and 1983.
That time I realised this is something that I need to achieve and I wanted to work towards that. I had a dream, I had a goal and then I had a plan to work towards that in my last year at Nalanda. I was captain of the school and it was a great achievement at the end of the year to leave school and receive this award which I always state is a very prestigious award.
“I was doing some research before I came here and I didn’t realise that six winners of this prestigious award had represented Sri Lanka in the 1996 World Cup final XI. It shows how important this award ceremony is. I want to thank Lake House and Mobitel for continuing this great event and hope you will keep it going for a long, long time.
“Sri Lanka cricket is most probably at a level right now where everyone is expecting improvements overnight. The schoolboys here will play a major part in the next 4-5 years where Sri Lanka cricket will end. When I came here five months ago to take up this job I mentioned that my dream will be that one under 19 cricketer will represent Sri Lanka in Test cricket before I finish this job. It actually has to come from you’ll.
“Even the winner this year or any award winners whether they are the best batsman or best bowler if you want to go and represent the country there is a lot of hard work to do and a lot of preparations. One word that has been in the media mostly in the last month is fitness. I think it is one of the most important areas as a cricketer or as an individual. Anything you do if you are physically fit you can do a lot of things because mentally you will be switched on and that’s where Sri Lanka cricket is heading now. When I say fit it is cricket fit. It’s important that we have a team that can play for five days, play a 50-over game and play a T20 it’s so much cricket happening and there are a lot of opportunities for young cricketers these days. I would really like for everyone to look at their fitness areas how you do things and even their fielding side.
That’s another topic that’s always in the media these days. The current Sri Lanka team you will see a major improvement in the fielding has happened. That also didn’t come without hard work. It was the amount of work that we put in behind the scenes and enjoyment that they have had in the last few months.
“One of the things that Sri Lanka cricket is trying to create is a winning culture, a winning environment so that the players can perform to their best and do well. That cannot be done by the administrators or the coaching staff it has to come from the players.
One of the biggest things that we are working on is the food of the players and another area we are working on is there responsibility and accountability. What I am seeing in the last 3-4 days at training is that culture being implemented by the senior players and they are taking ownership of what they are doing.
The training sessions are very much run by the senior players and the rest of the team follows. That’s the culture we want to set. If you set that culture the rest will happen, there won’t be any problems of players performing, we have unbelievable talent.
“In the current team we have got three players who have won this prestigious award Dinesh Chandimal the Test captain, Niroshan Dickwella and Kusal Mendis. As I said earlier I would really love to see someone from here in the national team next year or even later this year because the sky is the limit for all of you. There are so many opportunities in this country and it’s very important that you’ll work towards that.
“Thank you Lake House and Mobitel for inviting me here 32 years later. I left the country many years ago and I was asked to come a few times earlier but I couldn’t. It is a great privilege to be at the awards night. It takes me back to great memories to people I played with my school as well as the national team. Now to come back and give something back to the country is my goal. Wishing all of you the very best.
“It’s very important my last message is work hard but work with a plan, not just go there and bat and bowl or field, you need to know when you finish a training session that you have improved from yesterday that is my message to all of you.”